The Alien

I was sick as a dog all last week, but I was going to play golf over the Memorial Day weekend, come hell or high water. I hooked up with an old friend, client and golf buddy of mine, the "Gardener", and we played Vistal Golf Club. I have known the Gardener for probably 15 years. He and I are about the same age. I worked with him as outside counsel when he was a young banker and credit officer and I was a young lawyer and continued to see him for business and socially and to play golf from time-t0-time over the years. Every once in a while I run into him at the Encanto driving range banging balls. Our sons played on the same Little League baseball team and vied for playing time in right field. The Gardener is a good golfer with a very nice swing and a good golf demeanor, but he does not get out to play very much golf these days. His moniker is partially a play on his name and also because he is a very good sand player and he carefully rakes and grooms the bunker after hitting his shot.

Vistal is the old Thunderbird Country Club track in south Phoenix. The course was purchased by the Phoenix Thunderbirds (together with the First Tee course next door) in 2000. The Thunderbird Country Club course was short and had a number of tricked-out holes. In 2000 the golf course was completely re-designed and re-built by PGA Tour Design Services in consultation with local PGA Tour players Tom Lehman, Billy Mayfair, and Howard Twitty. Shortly after it reopened, a young golfer died from e-coli or some other bacterial infection after putting ice from an open water container on the course into his drink. That is why you now see signs on golf courses that say "do not drink the ice" or something to that effect. The Thunderbirds foray into golf course ownership ended shortly thereafter when the bank foreclosed on the course and it was purchased by Arte Moreno, one of the owners of Clear Channel Outdoor Advertising and later the owner of the Anaheim Angels.

Vistal Golf Course is now over 7,000 yards from the blue tees with a course rating of 72.9 and a slope rating of 129. The backdrop of South Mountain and the views of Camelback Mountain, Squaw Peak, downtown Phoenix and the Bank One Ballpark are absolutely beautiful. If the course was located in North Scottsdale, you would pay $150+ in season to play the course. In South Phoenix, the summer rate is $29.

I drove the ball pretty well on the front 9, but I could not get my approach shots on the elevated greens. And when I did get the ball on the green in regulation, I oftentimes three-putted the large, undulating greens. The greens look very small when they are elevated and you do not realize how much room there is until you get up close to the green. As my followers know I have been having trouble getting enough loft on the ball when pitching the ball onto the green to hold the green. Since I only have 13 clubs in my bag, I decided to pull out my old Alien wedge. I used it 4 times times on the front 9 and hit two great shot and two shots short and into the greenside bunker because I was tentative. I did not try to hit the Alien wedge out of the greenside bunker because I have been hitting my sand shots pretty well. When the Alien first came out about 20 years ago there was a lot of talk as to whether it was USGA legal. It is my understanding that the USGA subsequently confirmed that the club was legal under its standards. The Alien wedge in the link looks much better than the bulky Alien wedge in my bag but I was very happy with the results.

By the back 9 my cold started to catch up to me and I was feeling weak. The back 9 is over 3,600 yards long! There are 5 par-4 holes over 425 yards and one that is 398 yards. I lost my swing for about 5 holes and I was trying to advance the ball forward and into the hole. On the last 4 holes I starting playing a little better and finished strong in 3 over par for a 47 on the back and a 95 for the round. It was not one of my stellar rounds!

The next day I received my new USGA Handicap Index. My new index is 13.4! Luckily, the 95 at Vistal was not included for handicap purposes. Now that I have played Vistal and have a little better feel for the size of the greens and the layout, I think that I can do better.